Abstract
This paper examines energy cooperation within the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) with reference to the European Union’s experience of the Trans-European Network for Energy (TEN-E) in addressing various policy challenges, including market competitiveness, climate change and the security of supply through energy infrastructure networks. As a development framework with strong geo-political and geo-economical dimensions, the BRI aims to promote interconnectivity and cooperation in infrastructure, policy, trade, finance and culture among Eurasian countries. The implementation of the BRI is expected to involve numerous investments as well as infrastructure construction and industrial integration in the energy sector. The EU experience in creating an energy network has indicated a clear synergy between infrastructure networks and the market. In the 1990s, TEN-E was developed to create an integrated energy market, reinforce economic and social cohesion, and connect peripheral regions. Through an analysis of the EU experience, this paper argues that the BRI foresees turning China’s energy cooperation in Eurasia into an integrated and multilateral strategy. While energy infrastructure networks could contribute to achieving the BRI’s objectives, possible obstacles exist in the creation of those networks in the BRI, including asymmetric policy priorities, financing challenges and the lack of a multilateral legal framework.
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Notes
Saudi Arabia, Russia, the UAE and Iraq are the major oil suppliers to China.
For example the China–Central Asia gas pipeline, the China-Russia gas pipeline, and various solar and water power projects in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor
Electricity corridors include the North Seas offshore grid (NSOG), north-south electricity interconnections in Western Europe (NSI West Electricity), north-south electricity interconnections in Central, Eastern and South-eastern Europe (NSI East Electricity) and the Baltic Energy Market Interconnection Plan for electricity (BEMIP Electricity). Gas corridors include north-south gas interconnections in Western Europe (NSI West Gas), north-south gas interconnections in Central, Eastern and South-eastern Europe (NSI East Gas), the southern gas corridor (SGC) and the Baltic Energy Market Interconnection Plan for gas (BEMIP Gas). Oil supply connections are provided in Central and Eastern Europe (OSC).
The ECT is signed in 1994 to provide comprehensive protection for energy investments and to reduce commercial risks in international energy cooperation (see Europa 2007).
For example the Central Asia–China gas pipeline that connects China with Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan
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YU, K. Energy cooperation in the Belt and Road Initiative: EU experience of the Trans-European Networks for Energy. Asia Eur J 16, 251–265 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10308-018-0512-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10308-018-0512-y